Linux 3.17 To Fix Up ASPM, Bring Other PCI Changes

Bjorn Helgaas, the PCI subsystem maintainer for the Linux kernel, sent in a very early Linux 3.17 kernel merge window pull request due to being on holiday the next few weeks.

The PCI pull request is the first pull request submitted for Linux 3.17 with it likely being about two weeks or so until Linux 3.16 makes its official debut, which would conflict with Bjorn's holiday until mid-August.

The PCI changes submitted so far include supporting BARs up to 128GB, fixing a VGA default device issue on EFI systems, and a fix for ASPM configuration in certain scenarios. ASPM -- the PCI Express Active State Power Management feature -- continues to be a pain for Linux kernel developers with issues still coming about with this power-saving feature. More on the latest ASPM fix is described by this patch.

Helgaas hopes to be able to submit more PCI changes for the Linux 3.17 kernel upon his return in mid-August. This early pull request can be found on the Linux kernel mailing list.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated testing software. He can be followed via Twitter and Google+ or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.